North Dakota Legislators Take Sides on Abolition, Vote to Keep Abortion Legal
On Wednesday, the North Dakota House of Representatives voted to keep abortion legal in the state. By a vote of 77-16, the House rejected HB 1373, the North Dakota Prenatal Equal Protection Act, authored by State Representative Lori VanWinkle.
Floor Debate
For nearly thirty minutes, the North Dakota House debated the bill before voting to ultimately reject it. Republican Kathy Frelich defended the Human Services Committee’s Do Not Pass recommendation on the floor, claiming that the bill was “unenforceable” while fear mongering about potential enforcement mechanisms. Frelich also pointed to the open letter signed by 77 Pro-Life organizations opposing the prosecution of mothers who murder their preborn babies.[1]
Representative Lori VanWinkle delivered a powerful statement in favor of the bill she authored. VanWinkle declared,
“laws are in place to teach people what is right and what is wrong,” and that “God requires justice and He requires us to repent of our sin for that forgiveness to take place.”
VanWinkle further exhorted her colleagues,
“we have an opportunity today to be the most legendary state in the nation, to say that we will actually stand behind our pro-life stance…because the bill is before us to do it.”
VanWinkle postulated that perhaps if America repents of and ends the abortion genocide, God would “remove His hand of judgment over this nation” and “heal our land.” Finally, she told her colleagues, “you will stand before God for your own choice.”
Immediately after VanWinkle’s courageous speech, Representatives Jeff Hoverson, Dwight Kiefert, Donna Henderson, Christina Wolff, and Desiree Morton rose up to speak in support of the bill. Representative Hoverson said,
“I never thought I would live to see the day that Roe v. Wade would overturn, and it did. And today, I consider it a great honor to have the opportunity to vote to give these babies equal protection.”
Representative Henderson in speaking in favor of HB 1373 said,
“I think the deterrent factor is great, I think all abortion is murder, and I think a lot of the fear and disinformation in the emails we have gotten is ridiculous.”
Speaking in opposition to the bill, Representative Matt Ruby pointed to opposition from Pro-Life establishment organizations to justify his opposition. He also recycled erroneous claims from Christopher Dodson of the North Dakota Catholic Conference that preborn babies are not persons under the 14th Amendment.
Abolition makes progress
While the outcome of the vote was disgraceful, the fight for abolition in North Dakota is a strong indicator that abolitionists are making material gains. First, never before had a bill of equal protection received more than six votes on the floor of a legislative body. Yesterday’s vote shattered the previous record with 16 votes.
Additionally, the fact that five of VanWinkle’s colleagues rose up to fight for the bill alongside her on the floor indicates that conservative Republicans are getting bolder in their advocacy for equal protection.
It is also worth noting that State Representative Lori VanWinkle was an outstanding champion for the bill. Throughout the process, she exhibited tremendous courage and boldness in making the case to her colleagues for the abolition of abortion, even in the face of imminent defeat on the floor. God was glorified by her faithfulness. Please join us in thanking Lori VanWinkle for being the hero that North Dakota babies so desperately need. We look forward to seeing another equal protection bill filed in North Dakota’s next session in 2027.
NOTES:
National Right to Life, Coalition Letter to States, May 12, 2022, https://nrlc.org/uploads/communications/051222coalitionlettertostates.pdf.